Coupling chemical weathering with soil production across soil‐mantled landscapes

Soil‐covered upland landscapes constitute a critical part of the habitable world. Our understanding of how they evolve as a function of different climatic, tectonic and geological regimes is important across a wide range of disciplines and depends, in part, on understanding the links between chemical and physical weathering processes. Extensive previous work has shown that soil production rates decrease with increasing soil column thickness, but chemical weathering rates were not measured. Here we examine a granitic, soil‐mantled hillslope at Point Reyes, California, where soil production rates were determined using in situ produced cosmogenic nuclides (¹⁰Be and ²⁶Al), and we quantify the extent as well as the rates of chemical weathering of the saprolite from beneath soil from across the landscape. We collected saprolite samples from the base of soil pits and analysed them for abrasion pH as well as for major and trace elements by X‐ray fluorescence spectroscopy, and for clay mineralogy by X‐ray diffraction spectroscopy. Our results show for the first time that chemical weathering rates decrease with increasing soil thickness and account for 13 to 51 per cent of total denudation. We also show that spatial variation in chemical weathering appears to be topographically controlled: weathering rate decreases with slope across the divergent ridge and increases with upslope contributing area in the convergent swale. Furthermore, to determine the best measure for the extent of saprolite weathering, we compared four different chemical weathering indices – the Vogt ratio, the chemical index of alteration (CIA), Parker's index, and the silicon–aluminium ratio – with saprolite pH. Measurements of the CIA were the most closely correlated with saprolite pH, showing that weathering intensity decreases linearly with an increase in saprolite pH from 4·7 to almost 7. Data presented here are among the first to couple directly rates of soil production and chemical weathering with how topography is likely to control weathering at a hillslope scale. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The absence of memory in the climatic forcing of glaciers

Glaciers respond to both long-term, persistent climate changes as well as the year-to-year variability that is inherent to a constant climate. Distinguishing between these two causes of length change is important for identifying the true climatic cause of past glacier fluctuations. A key step in addressing this is to determine the relative importance of year-to-year variability in climate relative to more persistent climate fluctuations. We address this question for European climate using several long-term observational records: a century-long, Europe-wide atmospheric gridded dataset; longer-term instrumental measurements of summertime temperature where available (up to 250 years); and seasonal and annual records of glacier mass balance (between 30 and 50 years). After linear detrending of the datasets, we find that throughout Europe persistence in both melt-season temperature and annual accumulation is generally indistinguishable from zero. The main exception is in Southern Europe where a degree of interannual persistence can be identified in summertime temperatures. On the basis of this analysis, we conclude that year-to-year variability dominates the natural climate forcing of glacier fluctuations on timescales up to a few centuries.     

Redox-dependent removal of 27 organic trace pollutants: compilation of results from tank aeration experiments

The biodegradation of various wastewater-derived organic trace pollutants occurring in different aquatic compartments of the environment was previously reported to be influenced by the prevailing redox conditions. However, comparative studies on the redox-dependent degradation behavior of organic trace pollutants are scarce. The objective of the study presented herein, was to compile and evaluate data from several comparable previous tank experiments, thus, providing an overview on the redox-dependent removal of a total of 27 wastewater-derived trace compounds, including phenazone type compounds, antimicrobials, ß-blockers, psychoactive drugs and sulfonamides. Removal rate constants were fitted assuming first-order degradation kinetics. Six compounds were identified to be removed solely under oxic, three compounds solely under anoxic conditions. Others persisted under all experimental conditions, while some were removed under both oxic and anoxic conditions.     

Book review

Jane's Ocean Technology 1974–75 by Robert L. Trillo (Editor). Jane's Yearbooks, London, England (in North America, Franklin Watts, Inc., New York), 1974. 344 pp. £12.50 ($55.00).

The Ocean Basins and Margins—Volume 2: The North Atlantic by A. E. M. Nairn and F. G. Stehli (Editors). Plenum Publishing, New York, 1974. 598 pp. $38.00.     

Excess pore pressure in Mississippi delta front sediments: Initial report

Abstract

In September 1975, a differential piezometer probe was successfully implanted in the soft seafloor sediments of Block 28, South Pass, Mississippi Delta. The probe sensor is located approximately 6.4 m below the mudline in a water depth of 19 m, and has essentially continuously monitored excess pore pressure (the difference between sediment pore pressure and hydrostatic pressure at that depth) since installation. Excess pore pressure will be monitored until March 1976, when the probe will be recovered.

Immediately after deployment, an excess pore pressure of 54 kPa was recorded. An ambient excess pore pressure of approximately 32 kPa remained after dissipation of that developed during probe installation. Because of the possible presence of gas in the sediments in this area, it is not known with certainty whether the measured excess pressure is pore water pressure, pore gas pressure, or some combination of the two. An excess pore pressure of about 32 ±4 kPa was monitored during Hurricane Eloise and subsequent storms. The exact magnitude and time distribution of these pressure fluctuations is presently being evaluated.     

Book review

Ocean Floor Mining by John S. Pearson. Noyes Data Corporation, Park Ridge, New Jersey, 1975. 201 pp., $24.00.

Offshore Drilling Technology by Frank R. Carmichael. Noyes Data Corporation, Park Ridge, New Jersey, 1975. 392 pp., $36.00.